Act Your Age: It Comes Back To You
by pokemon fan 98
Summary: When Fitz-Simmons destroy an 0-8-4, the energy explosion affects Fitz - and makes him have regressive episodes, where he thinks he's younger than he actually is. He has four episodes total, regressing to ages 4, 11, 17, and just after Jemma was brought to Maveth. Each episode is brief, but complete. And they have no idea how to stop them while they're happening.


**A/N: This takes place after 5x12 "The Real Deal" but before 5x14 "The Devil Complex."**

He was right behind her, pushing her forward as they fled. He could feel the energy behind them, building and trying to expand past the boundaries they'd put up. It was going to break through, any second. The only question was whether they would be clear in time or not, and as they reached the mouth of the cave Fitz pushed off the balls of his feet, diving to get Jemma clear. He landed on top of her as a massive wave of energy pulsed with a thrumming sound, the force of it knocking him flat as it rushed over them.

"Fitz."

He looked down, meeting Jemma's worried eyes.

"Are you alright?"

His mouth quirked up in a smile at their synchronous query, his fear for her safety fading. He took a deep breath as he pushed himself up, letting Jemma sit up and look at him carefully.

"I'm fine," he said. "Though I didn't expect the energy to explode like that."

"It's not like we had long to study it. Coulson wanted it destroyed before it could move past this location." She looked back wistfully. "We barely even know what it was, aside from some form of energy affecting growth."

He looked back as well. It certainly had been a strange thing to discover. The area had trees that were decades old, immediately next to tiny saplings and trees in middling stages of growth. This wouldn't be strange if the area hadn't been a completely developed patch of trees a few days before. But it had, and it had caught the team's attention. They were looking into any strange happenings around them, searching for anything that could mark the start of the end of the world, to put a stop to it. "Do you think it's gone now?"

"One way to find out," she said, standing and reaching out a hand to help him up. They signaled for May to pick them up, and when they got back to the Lighthouse thirty minutes later, went straight to Coulson.

"The trees seem to be going back to normal, sir," Jemma said.

"We're pretty sure the 0-8-4 that created the energy was in that cave, and it's clear now."

"Good," Coulson said. "One less thing to worry about. I know you just got back, but can you do inventory in the medical room?"

Fitz dipped his head in confirmation and Coulson walked away, May following. "Doesn't chat much these days, does he?" Fitz asked quietly.

Jemma looked after him, a trace of concern in her expression. "No, he doesn't." She started walking to the medical room. "No one really does, except -."

"Except Deke," Fitz said with her. He shook his head at the thought of his grandson's oddness, unable to think about his future family. He had too much to think about in the present. Then he sighed. "Hi ho, hi ho," he said as they passed through the doorway. "It's back to work we go."

* * *

They did inventory on everything, staying up late to get it all done. They'd been doing that a lot lately. When it was finished, they put the recorded numbers on the table, intent on bringing them to Coulson in the morning. They deserved a good night's sleep first.

They walked to the room they shared and practically fell onto the bed, half-asleep just blinking. Fitz leaned over and pressed his lips to Jemma's forehead for a second, murmuring a low "goodnight love," before falling back onto his side of the bed. He was asleep within a minute.

* * *

He woke up sometime in the middle of the night. He waited a few seconds, sensing something off, and then realized he didn't hear Jemma's even breathing next to him. He looked over with bleary eyes and saw that she wasn't there. She must be getting water, he thought, ignoring the off-feeling. He closed his eyes, and his awareness faded.

* * *

Leo reached sleepily for Louis when he woke up in the night, ready to snuggle up and drift off again. His hand met cold sheets. He wondered if Louis had fallen to the floor and looked over the edge of the bed. No stuffed monkey. He always slept with Louis. Where was he? He grabbed his sheets, bunching them anxiously in his fists as he started to really wake up.

"Mum?" Leo called, holding the sheets closer to his face. "Mum, I need you!"

He waited a few seconds before calling again, this time louder. "Mummy, where are you?"

The door opened and Leo started to smile. But it wasn't Mum who turned on the light and stood in the doorway, holding a cup. It was someone he didn't know.

"Fitz?" she asked. She looked scared, but Leo didn't know why she would be scared.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Fitz, if this is some kind of joke -."

"My name's Leo," he said, lowering the sheet from his chin. "Where's my mum? And Louis?"

The woman moved closer to him. Leo backed up slightly, and she put her hands up. "I'm Jemma," she said in a nice voice. "I just want to help."

Leo frowned but relaxed as she came closer and took his hand.

"Who's Louis?" Jemma asked.

"My monkey," Leo said. "I sleep with him every night. Mummy gave him to me."

"What's the last thing you did, Leo?"

Leo thought. "I… don't know," he said in a small voice. "I can't remember." He felt like he was going to cry, and Jemma squeezed his hand.

"Don't worry," Jemma said quickly. "Why don't we go look for Louis?"

"You'll help me?"

"Of course I will," she said, smiling, and Leo smiled back as he stood up. She kept his hand as they walked out of his room, leading him around.

"Louis is brown," Leo told her. He had to make sure she knew what to look for. "He has a curly tail."

Jemma looked at him and nodded, and he looked at the ground, searching for his friend. They stopped a few minutes later and Jemma knocked on a door. "Daisy, I need your help," Jemma said when the door opened. "Fitz -." She looked at him and smiled. "Leo lost his monkey."

"What are you talking about?"

"Have you seen Louis?" Leo asked, louder than Jemma had.

The other lady – Daisy, Leo remembered – looked at him with an open mouth.

"I guess not," he said, looking down. Louis had to be somewhere around here! "Can we keep looking?" he asked Jemma, pulling at her hand.

"Just one second," she promised, and then started whispering to Daisy. Leo sighed impatiently and then yawned. He wanted to go back to sleep. But first he needed to find Louis. He looked at Jemma again. "… don't know what's wrong with him," he heard Jemma say, sounding stressed. _Something's wrong with him,_ he remembered his dad saying recently. Tears blurred his vision as he ripped his hand away from hers.

"There's nothing wrong with me!" he cried, turning around and running.

"Fitz, wait!" Jemma yelled after him.

He stopped at the end of the hallway, lost, and Jemma caught at his hand. He tried to rip it away, but she put her hands on his arms, locking him in place and forcing him to look at her. "There's nothing wrong with me!" Leo said. "You're just being mean!"

"I didn't mean that, I promise," she said. It looked like she was gonna cry too, and Leo sniffled, letting her talk. "I'm just worried about you," she told him. "I want to help you."

"I might know where your monkey is," Daisy said, standing behind Jemma. "Can I show you?"

"You can trust us," Jemma said.

Leo sniffled again and nodded. They did seem nice, and he didn't want them to be upset too. Daisy led the way as he walked hand in hand with Jemma. They got to a room and Daisy turned the lights on, and Leo tightened his hold on Jemma's hand. "The doctor's?" he asked.

"It's okay," Jemma soothed, and something in her tone relaxed him. "Just sit up here while Daisy and I look around, alright?"

He watched them move around, his eyes feeling heavier by the second now that he'd stopped moving. He yawned again.

"I was wrong," Daisy said, stepping closer. "Your monkey -."

" – Louis -." Jemma said.

"- Louis isn't in here," Daisy said. She held out a blanket. "But this is nice and soft. Do you think you could use this for tonight? We can find Louis in the morning."

Leo took the blanket. It was soft, like she said. His head was already nodding onto his chest, and Jemma gently steered him to lay back on the bed. She spread the blanket over him, and he smiled sleepily at her. "Thank you."

Then his eyes closed, and he fell asleep.

* * *

He groaned when he woke up to a well-lit room, raising a hand to shield his eyes. "Why is the light on?" he asked.

"Fitz?" Jemma asked.

He sat up and looked around, and once he saw Jemma's worried look, and the familiar setting of the med room, he narrowed his eyes. "What the hell happened last night?"

Jemma approached him. "How are you feeling?"

"Like myself," he said, and she wrapped her arms around him in relief.

"You had me so scared," she said. "It was like you were a child."

"I remember," he said. "It was strange. I really thought I was a boy again." He looked at her. "I didn't recognize you at all."

She bit at her lip as she thought. Fitz's own brain was whirring away, calculating possible explanations for his… "Regression," he said aloud. Jemma looked at him. "I wasn't just acting like a little boy. I only had access to the memories I had at that time."

"So you were what, five?"

"I lost Louis when I was four, so somewhere around there. But why did it happen in the first place?"

He saw the spark of comprehension in her eyes just as he felt it. "The energy from the explosion," she said.

He looked at her anxiously. "You don't think you were affected?"

"No, I don't think so, but you definitely were. We'll need to run some tests. I did a few things while you were sleeping. Let's compare them to your status now, and see what we can understand, right?"

He nodded, already holding out his arm for her to take a blood sample. She came over and started wrapping his arm. "I don't think it's in your blood, but this will tell us for sure."

"What else would it be?" he asked as she started taking the sample.

"That's what we have to figure out." She gave him a cloth to press against his arm as she went to process the blood. "Don't worry," she said, her back to him. He could tell she was worried, though she was trying not to show it. That more than anything comforted him. "We'll have this sorted out in no time."

"Yeah," he said, watching her work. "We will."

* * *

"Jemma, we've been going over it for hours," Fitz said. "We need a break."

"But we don't know when another episode will happen, if it even does. We don't know anything about this, aside from how the energy went into you!"

"Hey," he said soothingly. "We're not gonna figure anything out if we're dead on our feet. Let's just take a few minutes away, and then we'll fix this." He said. "Alright?"

He waited until she met his gaze, and when she did, he knew he'd gotten through to her. "Alright," she conceded. "But just twenty minutes."

"Not a second more," he reassured. She nodded, and he headed to their room, intent on rinsing off in the shower and putting on clean clothes. Something to make him feel more in control of himself.

He'd just toweled himself dry and picked out clothes when he felt something in him slip. He dimly realized it had to be the energy acting up. Then his awareness faded.

* * *

He felt hollow.

There was no other way to describe it. He'd been all over the world, searching for anything that could help him understand what that monolith had done with her, and every possible lead kept turning out a dead end. In his desperate searching he'd grown distant with his friends, spending days at a time with only his thoughts for company, images of Jemma being taken haunting him and alternately rendering him paralyzed by grief and unable to stop running.

Her absence had been persistently gnawing at him since the moment he watched the video, and now he was starting to feel like he had nothing left. Nothing except a hollow kind of despair, and the smallest grain of determination that he knew would never be destroyed. Because he couldn't give up, even if he was losing himself. He had to keep trying to find her.

He realized he was midway through dressing, fresh clothes laid out on the bed. He changed into the clean clothes and walked out of his room, intent on going to the lab to talk to Bobbi about his next trip, and stopped just outside the door. This wasn't the Playground.

He looked at his door and then walked down the hallway. Had he been taken somewhere? He had no idea what this building was, and found himself walking faster. Someone from the team had to be here, to explain what was going on.

He saw Jemma up ahead, coming towards him, and slowed. This had happened before. He had to be overtired again, imagining that she was back. He shook his head and took another step forward, but she didn't disappear, like he expected her to.

"Fitz, are you alright?" she asked as they came closer to each other. Her hair was longer than when she'd disappeared. His brain was really trying to convince him she was real, filling in details like that.

"This is just in my head," he said to himself.

He saw the concern flood her features. "Fitz, I'm really here," she said, stepping up to him.

"No you're not," he said, and felt the tears come close to the surface as he looked at her, wishing she were. "I would know if that damn rock freed you; I haven't stopped monitoring it since you disappeared."

She reached for his hand and grabbed it, and he noticed a glint of metal. He brought her hand up and looked at it.

"You've been affected by an energy," she said. "You saved me from Maveth."

It was what he hoped to hear, had dreamed about a hundred times, but somehow he believed this time, it was real. Because of one little thing, that he never dared to fully picture but was glaring at him right now.

"You… you got married." He said, unable to look away from the ring. There was a dry patch in his throat thinking about it.

"I did," she agreed, with a sweet little smile, and turned his hand over. "To you."

His eyes landed on the ring on his own finger, and he felt his mouth open. He brought his gaze back up to her. He felt the tears just behind his eyes again, but this time they were welcome.

"I thought I'd lost you," he said in a low voice, "and now not only are you safe, but you married me…" He closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her, breathing her in and feeling the warmth she provided. "I love you."

If they were married, he was sure he'd said those words to her before. But to him, it felt like the first time, and he was struck by how it made him feel to finally voice it. He'd come so close so many times, and each time he'd backed out of it had made the words dig a little deeper inside him. Now they'd finally escaped. The part of him where they'd been hidden was exposed, but while his words left, he felt hers take their place. Filling in the niche as she held onto him.

He came back to himself with this thought, his memories since those horrible months returning as the episode ended. He moved his shoulders and started to tighten his arms around Jemma, but she leaned back at his movement. "Fitz?" she asked.

"I'm back," he said.

She reached up and gently wiped at his eye, and he realized there was moisture on his eyelashes. She cupped her hand on his cheek. "Are you okay?"

A little more moisture collected on his eyelashes as he smiled at her. "Yeah," he said. "It's just a huge rush of emotions."

"You know everything's alright now, so why are you still upset?"

"I'm the furthest thing from upset, Jem," he promised. "I got to tell you _I love you_ for the first time again."

She traced her thumb across his cheek. "That's what it felt like, at least," he started to rationalize, but she shook her head to tell him to stop.

"It was the first time," she said.

He nodded, and rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes as they started walking back to the medical room. "I didn't think a good thing could come from this."

"Even though you had to relive a traumatic experience first?"

He'd already forgotten about that part, too caught up in the wonder of the end of the episode. He was somewhat thankful it had been during the middle of those six months. If the episode had started towards the end, he would have actually felt something more than emptiness – desperation and anger. He remembered slamming his hand against the monolith, screaming for it to do something before the team wrestled him away from it, and pushed the memory back. Either way, Jemma was right to call it a traumatic experience. "I guess there is that."

"We're not separating again," she told him as they reached the room. "I'm not leaving your side until either we've gotten rid of the energy, or it's clear it won't affect you anymore. Understood?"

"Yes, wife."

She seemed to almost smile. "Now fetch the scanner, husband. We've got science to do."

* * *

"It seems like the energy level is decreasing with each episode," Jemma said from her desk. They'd modified the scanner to pick up the energy, using the signature from when they'd first discovered it. The energy was concentrated in his brain, interacting with the pathways… somehow. In the hour since the last episode, that was all they'd been able to deduce.

"Since the energy is residual, it doesn't have the power to affect me and stay in my body," Fitz said.

"So eventually, it'll be gone entirely," Jemma said. "Well that's good to know at least, if we don't find a way to get rid of the energy sooner."

"Yeah," Fitz agreed. Though he was hoping they could stop it before he had any more episodes. He looked back at his designs, but after twenty minutes, he wasn't any closer to figuring out how to actually remove the energy from him. And the energy decided to taunt him.

 _Shit_ , he thought as he felt another lapse coming. He turned to look at Jemma, to try to warn her, but his awareness faded before he could start to speak.

* * *

"Simmons?" Fitz asked.

She turned from her desk with a confused look. "You haven't called me that in some time."

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You look older."

He wasn't trying to be rude, but it didn't make sense. Her features seemed different, more mature and less… innocent. As if she'd been through a lot. The tight smile she gave him was familiar though, enough for him to know she was holding back some biting remark. They'd had enough spats over homework assignments for that look to be familiar.

"It's too complicated to explain again," she said. He raised an eyebrow at the _again_ , but let the question drop.

"What else would I call you?" he asked instead.

She blinked, and he clarified. "Before, you said I hadn't called you Simmons in some time. So what else have I been calling you?"

She smiled. "Jemma, silly. It is my name."

He felt his eyes widen infinitesimally. "I, uh, didn't think you would be comfortable with that," he stammered. He could feel the heat creeping towards his cheeks, and willed it to stop. He didn't want to look like a _complete_ idiot. She seemed way too amused by this conversation.

"So are you going to be calling me Leo?"

Now she chuckled. Why did he feel like she knew more than she was letting on? "You don't want me to call you Leo," she said with a smile. "I only do that when we're fighting."

But they fought a lot, and he didn't remember her ever really using his first name. Or himself using hers, aside from in his head. He'd just worked up the nerve to start talking to her a few weeks ago. At the rate he was going, he wouldn't be using her first name for months.

He didn't think he'd ever have the courage to ask her out.

The heat crept to the surface of his cheeks again, and he pushed the thought down. "So I thought of a name for our latest project," he said.

"What's that?"

"The D.W.A.R.V.E.S."

He waited for her to grin, to tell him what a great name it would be. Instead she just smiled a little deeper.

"Not going to lie, I expected a much more enthusiastic reaction than that," he said in a low voice, looking at the floor. "I thought we could name each unit as well. For example, one would have to be -."

"Grumpy," Simmons said. He looked at her again and nodded. "I think it's a brilliant idea, Fitz."

He picked up a pencil and twirled it between his fingers. "You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"

"Of course not!" she said. "It's perfect."

He let himself smile at the praise and looked at the papers in front of him, ready to write down the project name. But it wasn't the blueprints for the D.W.A.R.V.E.S. he was looking at. It was another un-named device, with a lot of things crossed out and revised. "Simmons, did you…" he trailed off as he recognized the writing as his own. "What's this?"

She stood and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder as she leaned in to look. He felt his eyes dart to her hand for a second before he refocused on the blueprints, shocked at the tenderness of the gesture.

He blinked slowly, suddenly a bit dizzy. The dizziness picked up and momentarily stunned him, and when he opened his eyes again, he groaned.

"Back, are we?" Jemma asked.

Fitz looked at her, leaning over the desk next to him. "Yep," he said. "I'd forgotten how awkward I was. How did you stand it?"

"I found it charming." She looked at him sternly. "Now about your comment on how I look…"

He went over the conversation mentally and leaned back in his chair, sensing the danger. "Jemma, compared to our Academy days we both look…" he trailed off, realizing he was making it worse. "I think you're more beautiful now than you've ever been," he said. He bit the inside of his cheek as he waited for her response.

She regarded him with a penetrating expression for a moment before half-smiling and pecking him on the cheek. "You're lucky you're so adorable," she said teasingly.

He put his hand over hers. "I know."

* * *

"It's almost gone from your body," Jemma said, setting down the scanner a few hours later.

"I guess we don't have to figure out how to remove it, then," Fitz said. "Though it's definitely weird, how randomly it seems to be altering my brain."

"It's fascinating," Jemma said. "We'll have so much information to study, once we break the loop and get access to our lab again."

"If we break the loop," Fitz muttered.

"We've got to believe we can." She looked at him. "We've never failed before, and I don't plan on starting now."

He met her glance and gave her a small nod. He understood her determination. He shared it. But he also didn't know how much of a chance they really had at changing the future. "At the very least things are going to get a lot worse before they get better," he said.

Jemma smiled tightly. "They always do."

He reached for her hand for a moment, to lighten the dark mood that had just settled over them. As long as the two of them were trying, he was going to believe they could be happy – that they could actually settle down together.

"Do you think the others have realized something's going on with me?" Fitz asked.

"Well Daisy certainly knows," Jemma said. A confused look came on her face. "She left when you were still asleep, after the first episode, but she hasn't come back." She looked at Fitz. "It's been half a day at least. Do you think something is wrong, and we've missed it?"

"No," Fitz said. "if something big were happening, Coulson would have gotten us. Daisy's probably just caught up doing research."

"But what about Deke?"

"What about Deke?"

Fitz sighed as his grandson came through the door. "He needs to learn to knock," he grumbled.

"You don't need to knock for family," Deke said with a confident grin.

"What's going on?" Jemma asked.

"Research, taking inventory, training… usual boring stuff," he said. "Coulson and Daisy are bunkered down by the monitors. I haven't seen you guys all day. You weren't…?"

"Science, Deke," Fitz said, rubbing a hand over his face roughly. "We were doing science, nothing else."

"We had the door open, for goodness sake," Jemma said, her nose turned up slightly.

"You know science is pretty general -."

"Did you have a reason for coming?" Fitz asked shortly.

Deke dropped the jocular front and looked at Fitz. "I just wanted to see you."

Fitz breathed out as a trace of regret went through him… before Jemma turned to frown at him for being crotchety. "You know how Jemma and I went into the field yesterday?" he asked Deke.

Deke nodded.

"Yeah, we should know not to do that by now," Fitz said. "The energy affected me. That's why we've been away from everyone."

"Affected how?"

They explained the episodes Fitz had been having, and Fitz watched as Deke's face transitioned from curiosity to disbelief, finally settling on an infuriatingly overjoyed expression.

"Don't," Fitz said.

"Don't what?" Deke asked, seemingly unable to stop smiling.

"Fitz, he could -."

"Nope."

"C'mon, I can help figure this out. And if not, I'll help Jemma babysit!"

Fitz pressed his teeth together to keep from saying something he'd regret. It was possible Deke could see something he didn't, and get rid of the energy before another episode. He knew Jemma was looking at him carefully, and when she saw his acceptance, she smiled at Deke.

"Alright, Deke. Here's what we've figured out."

* * *

Aside from cracking far too many jokes about babysitting, Deke wasn't too annoying. He actually helped them a few times, springing ideas off each other. Fitz wouldn't admit it, but he rather enjoyed reasoning through the science with his family – present and future.

Of course they had just started working on a device that would disperse the energy when Fitz felt the precursor to an episode, and acted as quickly as he could. He managed to catch Jemma's attention this time, locking eyes with her with his mouth open in a disbelieving sigh. Then his awareness slipped.

* * *

Leo looked at the man and woman in the room and blinked. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Seriously?" the man asked, looking at the woman. "Just like that?"

The woman shushed him. "I'm Jemma, and this is Deke," she said.

"Nice to meet you," Leo said.

The man was looking at him with an open-mouthed grin. Leo was tempted to ask why he was so amused, but his mum said some people didn't close off, like he did. They had the opposite nervous reaction, and expressed everything. He wondered if Deke was one of those people. That, or Leo was missing something. Either way, he wasn't particularly worried.

"You seriously don't remember me?" Deke asked.

"Why would I?" Leo asked, as Jemma frowned at Deke.

"Nothing. I just thought I had one of those unforgettable faces."

"But you're so scruffy."

"That's rich, coming from you," Deke scoffed.

Leo looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes. Yes, his curly hair was a bit wild at the moment, but they hadn't gone to the barber in a while. "I'm eleven," he retorted, "at least scruffy is adorable at my age."

Deke looked like he hadn't expected a comeback. Jemma tried to hide a smile behind her hand. Leo smiled a little, already more comfortable with the situation.

"Are you going to try to recruit me to a school?" he asked. That's what the last few adults he'd seen had done. His mum said his grades were drawing attention, and that he would have lots of opportunities because of how smart he was. He'd had two different visits from college recruiters, trying to get him to promise to go there in a few years. He'd said no.

"No, we just wanted to meet you," Jemma said. She was watching him carefully, and there was something in her gaze that he recognized…

"Are you a scientist?" he asked.

She said "yes" at the same time Deke said "she's biochem, you're engineering. Isn't that what you always say?"

Leo looked at Deke at the same time as Jemma. "Even like this you're still in sync," Deke muttered.

"I am interested in engineering," Leo said. "Since my dad left, Mum's been letting me take more classes. But I'm not an engineer yet. Not officially. So I've never said I'm engineering before."

"You will," Deke said.

"Are you a scientist too?" Leo asked hesitantly. He couldn't see the same minutia in Deke's expression as he could in Jemma's: the small, almost unintentional behaviors that marked their love of science and discovery; but there was something in Deke's eyes that said he knew what he was talking about.

"You could say -."

"No," Jemma said at the same time, and Deke cut off. "He's never gone to school for it, at least," Jemma continued. "But Deke does have a lot of natural talent. He's actually quite good with machines."

Leo met Deke's eyes for a second before the man looked away. "We're kind of the same, then," Leo said. That made Deke look back at him, his shock clear. "I haven't gone to school yet either, and I can do a lot. It's natural."

Deke just nodded, his eyes still a little wide. Leo decided he liked him.

He was about to ask another question when his head started pounding. He cried out without thinking, closing his eyes against the massive pressure as it seemed to build and block everything out. He was dimly aware of Jemma and Deke next to him, saying something. Why did it hurt so much?

As abruptly as the pain started it faded, the pressure draining away so quickly it left him lightheaded. Lightheaded, but himself again. He opened his eyes, taking a breath as he felt his agitated pulse start to settle.

"Fitz, are you okay?" Jemma asked.

He nodded. "I think the energy's gone."

"Deke, get the -."

Deke was already moving, and came back with the scanner. Jemma held it next to Fitz's head and stared at the screen as it measured. She set it down. "You're clear," she said, smiling. "I ran the scan twice, and there's no trace of the energy left in your brain."

"It's about time," Fitz said. He shook his head. "I'm more than fine with that never happening again."

"That was more real than I expected," Deke said. "You seriously thought you were eleven?" Fitz nodded, and Deke huffed. "God, that's both awesome and terrifying."

"Yeah, well, thanks for your help, you can go now," Fitz said.

"Fitz," Jemma scolded.

"It's okay," Deke said. "I know he likes me. We're the same, right?" he said, smiling knowingly at Fitz.

"I wasn't myself," Fitz started.

"But you were!" Deke cried. "That's the best part! You had no idea we were related, and you liked me!" He lifted his head proudly. "You like me."

Fitz looked at Jemma, who was looking at him like 'you couldn't have expected to hide it forever.' He knew she was right (she almost always was), but it didn't mean he had to like it. "Well try not to make me regret it," he grumbled affectionately.

There was a knock on the door, and Daisy peeked her head in. "Hey, how's Fitz?" she asked, looking at Jemma. "I'm sorry I haven't been in, but I've been swamped all day. We thought we might have a lead. Dead end."

"I'm fine," Fitz said.

"He's all grown up," Deke said.

Fitz frowned at him. "Well that's good at least," Daisy said, pretending Deke hadn't said anything and looking at Fitz. "I expect details at some point."

He and Jemma nodded, agreeing.

"We have the inventory list Coulson wanted," Jemma said. She retrieved it from the table and handed it to Daisy. "It was done last night, but we had more pressing matters today than inventory."

"I'm trying to get everyone to take the rest of the night off," Daisy said. "Mack and Yo-Yo are trying to make a good dinner for everyone with the supplies we have. Sound good?"

"A relaxed night sounds great," Fitz said. Deke started questioning Daisy about the possible meals as they walked out of the room. Fitz walked over to Jemma and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, taking advantage of the moment they had alone as they slowly moved towards the door. "Thank you," he said softly, close to her ear.

"For what? I didn't actually fix anything."

He tightened his arm, pulling her closer and resting his head against hers. "You stayed by my side," he murmured warmly. "That's all I ever need you to do."


End file.
